UPPER PROVIDENCE — Pope John Paul II’s Mike Santillo had to wonder if he was overseeing a high school football team or a M.A.S.H. unit last season.

That’s because a rash of injuries conspired to sabotage a once-promising campaign into a nightmarish one-win finish.

“It was extreme,” Santillo said.

This fall, the Golden Panthers (1-8 PAC-10, 1-9 overall last season) are hoping a healthy roster and more balanced offensive attack can translate into an extreme turnaround.

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“We’re going to try and control the football a little more than we’ve done in the past,” Santillo said. “That’s been our biggest thing. We need to do a better job with our time of possession stats.”

To that end, a three-headed ground attack of seniors Nick Howarth, Kirk Cherneskie and Johnnie Bildstein should provide a nice complement to what has been somewhat of a one-dimensional, pass-happy offense over the past couple of seasons.

“All we’ve done is pass, pass, pass ... and all the teams knew it,” Howarth said. “This year we’re going to focus more on running the ball so we can be more effective when we pass.”

With incumbent QB James Bleming opting not to come out for the squad, junior Matt Mesaros — who started the final six games of the season — will take over as the main signal-caller and have a bevy of receiving targets, led by Tim Tadros (20 catches, 472 yards, 23.6 avg., 5 TDs).

Defensively, the Golden Panthers are attempting to shore up a unit that allowed an average of 38.1 points per game.

“We have to do a better job of stopping people, and we know that,” Santillo said. “We’ve changed some things on the defensive side of the ball, and we’re going to try and bring a little more pressure this year and have some fun.”

“Last year was very frustrating,” said Howarth, who missed three games after suffering a concussion. “We could have easily beaten a couple more teams if we were at full strength. We just have to stay healthy and focus on what we have to do: run the plays correctly and get stops on defense.”